Jack Miller and Joan Mir have spoken out against riders who claim more needs to be done to penalise Moto3 riders accused of touring and towing, only to commit the tactic themselves when qualifying for a MotoGP race.
With increasingly small margins occurring between the top riders in MotoGP and the importance qualifying has towards a final result - particularly reaching Q2 - riders have been employing the oft-maligned, but increasingly crucial tactic of ‘caravaning’ or towing more regularly.
As well as pulling a bike along in a slipstream on a straight, having a marker ahead is often seen as a benefit to ensuring good flow in bends.
It is a tactic several riders are employing, most notably Marc Marquez, who has been criticised for deliberately waiting for a faster rival in FP3 or Q1 in order to help him with his markers. This has benefited him at times, such as the Italian MotoGP, but others - such as the 2019 Malaysian MotoGP and the most recent Dutch TT have seen him crash while trying to follow.
Together with the potentially dangerous act of touring to almost a standstill to prevent oneself from being at the front of a queue of riders towing behind them, others have spoken to the Grand Prix Safety Commission to get the act potentially banned.
Miller and Mir both agree the tactic is committed by a lot of the same riders and want to see punishments handed down.
“These idiots should manage to drive a lap time on their own,’ Miller expressed.
“I said my piece quite clearly in the Safety Commission about this. There were certain riders who are generally involved in that sort of situation all the time who were trying to defend themselves, saying it was not unsafe because we were watching and stuff like that.
When you've got someone behind you, there are many who say, 'Okay, I'll push, do my job and that's it,” Mir added. “Of course, there are also many drivers who don't want to be someone else's train
“Penalties for waiting on the track alone will not solve the problem: “If we say that you can no longer wait, we will always have the same drivers pushing, and on the other hand always the same drivers following the others. That's also a bit unfair.”
One rule for Moto3, another for MotoGP
At the heart of the disagreement is the way the rules are applied in Moto3, where towing is considered critical in such a low powered class.
However, it led to an almost farcical race in Catalunya that saw riders at the front of a large group slowing coming into the final lap because they didn’t want to be the ones being potentially swallowed up towards the finish line.
It drew condemnation up and down the ranks, but Miller and Mir both agree a double standard is being employed by some riders who commit similar acts in MotoGP.
“It’s double standards how you can judge these kids [in Moto3] when they are doing this, but they are doing it themselves and saying ‘no, no it’s ok because I am watching’. You don’t know when the other bike is coming, you don’t know this.
“So, for me we shouldn’t have to have this penalty system [for touring]. This is MotoGP, these idiots should be able to do the lap time by themselves.”
"It is clear to me that something has to be done in Moto3,” adds 2020 MotoGP World Champion Mir.
“We have to do something and maybe organize qualifying differently, because the risk is simply too great. They all follow each other to set their lap time. But if one driver falls, the next one hits him. We have to do something and we all have to think about it. It can not go on like this."
